Forgiveness

[cjsmith]

I'd be happier if I learned to forgive old hurts.

Sometimes I find it easier to forgive if I can put myself in the other person's shoes and understand a little - what pressures that person was under, what might have been meant but not said, what might have been said but not meant.

Sometimes I can forgive if I just don't give two hoots about the other person at all. It's incredibly freeing to hold someone in (let's be honest here) such low esteem that I don't care what they think of me. Sadly, or perhaps gladly, this one's rare for me.

Sometimes I can forgive if it's been long enough that I'm not the same person I was. I care less what was done to that CJ, or I now see how I set myself up for it.

Often times, an apology (particularly an indication that hurt wasn't intentional) is all I need. Then it's over, done, gone.

Those are the easy cases. They're so easy it's almost cheating. Real forgiveness... no, I don't think I'm quite so good at that.

Comments

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I'm usually very good at forgiving, I don't know for certain why, unless it plays into my tendency to see multiple viewpoints concurrently.

Of course, my glasses are more than a bit rose-colored at the moment, and I'm sure you know why.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Do you think your ability to forgive is a significant factor in your happiness?

And yeah: *hug*.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. It might be, actually. Hadn't thought about that part, but maybe that's one of the defining aspects of my easy-going nature.